Forgive Yourself: Break Free

No one is perfect, we all make mistakes, everyone has a bump in the road, etc. etc. etc. We have all heard these phrases a thousand times have we not? Do they ever make you feel better about the mistake you just made? Probably not, but we say them anyway because we usually don’t know what else to say.  When I sent my hubby’s grandfather a birthday card on his GRANDMOTHER’S birthday…I got a lot of laughs, a “that stinks” and then eventually a “well, I am sure everyone has done that at one point or another”. All I could think was “Great, thanks for making me feel NOT better, since the only other people I hear about sending wrong birthday cards are people over 90”.

Today, I laugh about this silly mistake; other mistakes are not so simple and easy to forget. Some result in upsetting our children, job loss, marital distress, health problems, and financial hardships. Those are the mistakes that no matter how many years have gone you never laugh about.  Knowing that other people have made similar mistakes as you might help you feel better in the short term; however, the guilt, anger, stupidity, frustration that you may feel will not go away unless you forgive yourself.

In Psalm 103 verse 12 David writes about the distance between the east and the west as a symbol of God’s forgiveness. Just as the east and the west are as far apart as can be, so is our sin to God once he has forgiven us. Our slate is wiped clean once we have been forgiven. God has removed it and therefore has no memory of it. How amazing is that! Yet, we often times remind God of it again, again, and again because we just can’t let it go. Well ladies, let me tell you this. If you are being broken down again and again because of past mistakes then something else, not God, has a hold on your thoughts and is keeping you from feeling free. In Acts 13:38 the bible tells us that we are to be free from guilt and are to feel refreshed each day because our sins have been forgiven. God forgives us, and therefore we must forgive each other and ourselves.

When you wake up in the morning and greet your sweet baby, toddler, 12 year old, teenager, husband, co-workers are you free from guilt? Or do you feel weighed down from mistakes that you made last week or 5 years ago? Now is the time to ask for that forgiveness one last and final time and then have faith and believe that you have been wiped clean. Negative thinking about our mistakes never gets us anywhere, but giving praise and glory to God gets us closer to Him. Next time you have negative thoughts about your mistakes, acknowledge them quickly and move on, and then praise God and thank God for anything in your life that you are thankful for. Dismiss those thoughts as soon as they come to mind and repeat Psalm 103:12 over and over. Our husbands, family, friends and especially our children need you and I at our best so that God may shine through us. There is no reason for us to be held back from mistakes that God knows nothing about because he has already forgotten them. 

Father God, thank you for forgiving us of our sins and for giving us the gift of living our lives here on earth free from guilt. Help us to pour everything we have today into our loved ones and our ministry to you. We love you. Amen.